As Clouds Gathered Poem by Deanna Samuels

The sky became darker, less friendly
yet, moments before,
white fluffy clouds moved lazily by.

A sudden distant rumble announced an intent -
an intent of disturbance.
Overhead, skies quickly blackened,
rumbling became more intense,
day became night and almost instantly,
an ear-piercing crash of thunder roared out
followed by a colossal streak of lightning,
momentarily lighting up the whole surround,
stretching to the horizon and beyond.
Seconds later, an unprecedented thunderclap
yielded a momentary few seconds of complete silence
as though the world was in complete shock,
then recovered almost instantly with huge jagged
flashes of lightning, zipping and zapping
through the thick blackened clouds.
Almost simultaneously, large icy pellets
began to crash down with great intensity,
landing noisily on the surfaces below,
quickly forming layers of thick ice.

The deluge continued without ease for many minutes
while the intensity of unrelenting thunder and lighting
continued to rumble loudly and streak through the
black clouds, lighting up the whole landscape.
As time passed, the ice pellets began to lessen,
transforming into a heavy rain fall, lashing down upon
the ground below, slowly melting the icy layer.

Rain poured unabated but slowly, very slowly,
as the blackened sky moved on,
the thunder and lightning became less intense
and clouds lightened into a dark grey while the deluge
changed into a shower and gradually stopped.
Clouds became lighter and slowly broke
into singular masses, shortly returning to the
gentle puffy whites prior to the storm.

Sky and land once more reclaimed peace and calm.


Written at Courtice, Ontario - May 23rd 2026